Yesterday ended my three days at BlogHer, a women's blogging conference located in New York City, but unfortunately, not within walking distance from my apartment.

Since breakfast started at 8am, sessions ran all day and parties ended after midnight, I chose to stay in the hotel. Feel free to judge me if you like— my husband certainly did.

New York City was about 500 degrees over the weekend with air so thick it added at least twenty pounds to my already 6 month pregnant frame. Walking from one block to the next felt like running the last leg of a marathon with weights on my ankles in the world's largest sauna.

The first night, I got back to the hotel and met my roommate— the lovely Jessica from Four Plus An Angel(pictured below right)— and thought, "WOW, SHE SMELLS!" and then realized the stench was coming from ME.

If you're thinking I don't look pregnant in the picture above, I KNOW! It's those $200 maternity jeans! The second day, I wore a wrap dress and everyone thought I was giving birth later on that day.

Being pregnant at a conference definitely gives you a different perspective on things. For instance, long lines for the buffet lunch might be misinterpreted as a personal attack and unairconditioned transporation to an event might transform a normally well-mannered person into a new term I've coined— PREGGO-POSTAL. (My apologies to anyone who witnessed my unraveling.)

Also, if I ever put together my own blogging conference, the first thing I will do is sign up a freakin' water sponsor. Evian, Poland Springs, Fugi, I don't care— just something to make the pregnant people feel like they are not going to pass out and die.

I actually checked out the Samsung booth in the expo hall the first day and noticed they had stocked their refrigerator with small bottles of water. If you listened to their six minute pitch, the nice Samsung woman would open the fridge to show off it's spacious interior and then offer you a bottle. By the end of the conference, I had listened to that pitch about twenty times because it was the only way I could figure out how to get fluids besides coffee and soda.

If you're curious, the Samsung fridge is an impressive 28 cubic foot 4-door with an 8" LCD digital display, where you can get the weather, listen to Pandora and have the fridge pick a recipe based on the food available inside. (I did that from MEMORY, thank you very much.)

One advantage to being pregnant at BlogHer is that on the second night, you suddenly become the most popular person on earth because everybody wants your drink tickets. I briefly considered selling them on eBay but ultimately, gave them to anyone who was ballsy enough to ask.

You know, right after I said, "I'm not pregnant, asshole. HA! Just kidding!"

Pregnancy also opens up tons of possibilites when it comes to sponsorship opportunities.

For instance, when I visited the booth for the Kohler VibrAcoustic, a vibrating bathtub with built-in underwater speakers and lights that make the water change colors, my first thought was pitching them "The World's First Disco Water Birth". Kim from Let Me Start By Saying even had the awesome suggestion that I LIVE TWEET the whole ordeal.

Example: I'm 9cm. dilated, Salt & Pepa's 'Push It' is on repeat and the water is a lovely shade of neon green #letsdothisthing.

I'm sure my doctor would understand my sudden change in birth plan if it meant the free installation of a $4000 tub.

(That's Nicole from Ninja Mom, lying in the VibrAcoustic while eating an ice cream bar. We had to pry her out before she passed out in a pool of melted chocolate.)

Also, I think I might have agreed to talk about Extra Space Storage for the entire month of September just because they gave me a bag a pretzels.

Pregnancy aside, I had a huge amount of fun at BlogHer. It's really all about meeting/hanging out with the bloggers you know and love, and I did that in spades. I'm not going to name people because there are too many, but you know who you are and I can't wait to see you all again.

I'd also like to give a huge thanks to UrbanSitter, my go-to online babysitting service and my sponsor at the conference, for throwing an awesomely unsponsor-y dinner. They gave out beautiful necklaces from Covet, a San Francisco-based boutique, that didn't even have an UrbanSitter logo on them or anything. Imagine that!

And thanks to SNOOPY, who somehow got me into the Badgley Mischka champagne breakfast. True story.

As far as sessions and whatnot, my biggest takeaway is that I should be optimizing my blog for mobile— which I have not done whatsoever.

So, now I have a question for you all (if you've made it this far)…

If you read Mommy Shorts via your phone or tablet, would you prefer a basic mobile format rather than the regular Mommy Shorts webpage? I fear, it won't be nearly as pretty but maybe that means nothing to anyone but me.

I’ve tried to read it on my iphone and I don’t remember there being any issues except maybe it was hard to vote if you were running a contest or poll.
I like it when everything automatically fits my screen on my phone, but that’s just me.
These comments may or may not have helped. I apologize. You totally rocked those jeans lady!

as a regular reader, a mobile format sounds great to me! as i don’t usually need all the other stuff, as i have been to your site so many times, and read at my desktop too, so if i want to explore i can do it that way…..perhaps you could do it the same way as others i have seen, and have it ask you if you want the mobile version or not before continuing on?

Hoooooooold on.
I spent HOURS with you & you did not tell me you were chillin’ with the Misters B&M. I just died a little inside. Please tell me that they took one look at you and insisted on making you your birthing gown. You know, the one you wear while vlogging your water delivery in the musical tub?

A mobile site would definitely make your blog more readable from a phone — I’ve been known to click a link I see on facebook when I’m out, and the text is REALLY tiny. I can resize, which is not a huge deal, but it’s still an extra step.
If it’s not too much trouble/cost, I think it’s a win-win, since it won’t affect your web-viewers after all. And for what it’s worth, if a blog has a mobile version, it usually says to me that this is a successful blog whose owner deemed worth the effort to accommodate mobile readers.
-Heather

WHY WASN’T THERE WATER?!? A couple of times I was like, “Yay!! WATER! This will help my insane dizziness and fuzzy, dehydrated head!” as I mistakenly grabbed and chugged that stupid Sprite Zero, or whatever it was that LOOKED like water. I finally resorted to taking coffee cups into the bathroom to chug from the tap. Classy.
As for mobile versus whatever? I have no clue. Usually when a site asks me which format I’d prefer, I choose the web version.

I didn’t think of hitting the Samsung fridge pitch TWICE. Genius. I just sat in my sessions and DREAMED of that water drawer! It was a highlight, spending time with you at the conference. I thought the dress looked great!

Last year I was the pregnant lady at the conference and oh my goodness how I am laughing at this post because it is GIVING ME FLASHBACKS!
And when I read on my phone, I like the simple mobile (it’s what I have for SN too) because it doesn’t take as long to load which means less data use suckage.

I never used my phone for looking at webpages, and I just (yes! just now, just for you!) checked your site on my kinda-new iPhone. It looks lovely, just small. But I can make it bigger, right? By stroking the screen? So that’s good.
You looked fantastic, and you were gracious and fun at BlogHer. You may give the jeans credit, but I think it was all you.

The water thing was rough. I even walked around with empty reusable bottles and found NONE! Bah!
I am more sad that I did not find you so I could walk right up, pretend you would ow me and say OMG it is you! Next time, perhaps …

I read it from my Android phone and it’d be so nice to view it not through a browser! I have a hard time getting to your different categories and I’m a new follower, so there are a ton of posts I haven’t read yet. I’d download anything – unless it’s only available on the Apple market.

Oh YES please optimize for mobile! A basic very stripped down version would be great, I’ve tried accessing your site via a pretty new android phone and thing just take too long to load (I think mostly the video ad pulls the whole site down).

i often read you blog on my phone and i cant tell you how annoying it is…but i didnt want to say anything. now that you’re aware…please PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD FIX IT! I’d even be willing to send you a bottle of water for your time.

Holy Moses I want that fridge! It tells you what you can make for dinner? Now if it only did my grocery shopping for me we’d be that much closer to living the Jetsons life.
I don’t access you on my phone so I can’t offer help there.

I almost always read your blog on my iPhone and I actually like the web format. The mobile formats have been a real pain, especially when looking up past articles, who am I info, etc. I’ve had no issues with viewing your site as the traditional website on my phone – it would be a small miracle, however, if someone could produce code that would allow the traditional website article to stay fitted to the screen (once it has been manually expanded) as I page through the article.

It’s a good thing having all these kids has totally taken away my sense of smell. Kidding, I promise you didn’t smell.
Anyway, so great to get to spend time with you and where was I when the ice cream eating/ tub laying was going on???

Ha ha. That’s great. Seriously, WTF with the water situation? It’s just wrong. WRONG, I tell you!
My only regret is that I didn’t try out the vibrating bath tub. Maybe next year.
All that said, it was really nice meeting you!

At one point I thought I saw a bottle of water on the table going into the keynote and I got ALL EXCITED – and it was effing SPRITE ZERO. I also thought maybe I saw you and was going to ask, but that lady did not look pregnant AT ALL, so if it was you I kind of hate you. Jesus Christ it was hot. We went for a walk in Central Park and almost had to catch an ambulance back to the hotel.

Those jeans DO look amazing! I’m surprised the conference didn’t even provide tap water in jugs. When I was pregnant, I carried around ice water wherever I went b/c some ppl apparently don’t believe in ice. Weirdos. Glad you had a fun time. No judging for staying in a hotel. You shouldn’t be walking around at midnight! As for mobile version, I would say it doesn’t matter to me because I’d wait til I had a computer to write a comment anyways. Plus, the iPhone has a “reader” function for most sites that translates a post into a readable format. Not sure it works on your site. I’ll have to check.

I’d read your blog on any platform, so yes, by all means, go mobile.
And how did Snoopy get you into a champagne breakfast? You neglected to tell me that when we hang out at the bar (and you drank water!).

Definitely optimize for mobile! I just got a smartphone (FINALLY!) and nothing makes me click away from a site when browsing on my phone than a site that’s not mobile-optimized. They’re just impossible to read.
I use WP Mobile Detector for my blog. It takes away the aesthetic quality of my site design, but it makes my blog SO easy to read from a mobile device. According to the little plugin blurb, it “automatically detects if the visitor is using a standard mobile phone or a smart phone and loads a compatible wordpress mobile theme for each. This plugin is one of the first to differentiate between a standard mobile phone and a smart phone. With advanced mobile statistics, image resizing, automatically formatted content, and detection of 5,000+ mobile phones, the WP Mobile Detector gives your mobile visitors the experience they desire.”
So, there you go.

If I don’t get that tub or a mini jamz file of Salt n’ Peppa, I’m gonna be pissed (see what I did there?).
I adore you. Boy that looks creepier than expected.
I need to optimize for mobile, too. Hmph.
As for MommyShorts, I would hope you could integrate some of your flair for style. I’d not like a very plain mobile interface for your blog.

So glad you stayed at the hotel. You need a break, even if you weren’t preggo, but ESPECIALLY because you’re preggo. So wish I could’ve went to BlogHer. Maybe next year. Yes, optimize for mobile. The only time I read blogs is from my phone while on the toilet. Gross, but sadly true. As long as the mobile website is basic and clean, I’m good, but an app would pretty awesome. I’m an Andriod gal, so I love me some free apps.

Because I am a web designer in real life, I’ve been to lots of conferences where they talk on mobile vs online user experience. You know what you want them to see, but think about what THEY most want to see and trim down to that. It’s all about your users.

I think that a mobile version would be nice. I’ve actually been using my phone more than my computer recently, and the print is just right on my computer, but too small on my phone, and it would be nice to have larger text so as to avoid eye strain. By the way, I love your blog! I think you’re a great writer!

I don’t know whether it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else encountering problems with your website.
It appears as though some of the text within your posts are running off the
screen. Can someone else please comment and let me know if
this is happening to them as well? This might be a issue with my browser because
I’ve had this happen previously. Kudos

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